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AT Tracking Force

B

Bob King

Active Member
I have what I believe is a Magnavox-branded AT12Sa (500 ohms, genuine ivory AT12S stylus), shibata tip condition unknown. The cartridge tracks well, and sounds good at 1.25 and 1.5 grams.
I ordered and installed a LPGear AT11E green stylus (can’t afford the Vividline or Shibata right now). It does not sound very good, channel balance is off, and seems to have trouble tracking at 1.5, 1.75, or even 2 grams. I set the antiskate using a test record and cartridge is aligned with a Baerwald gauge.
The tracking force spec on the AT12Sa cartridge is 1-1.75 grams (with note to not exceed 1.75); and the AT11E is 1.5 to 2.5 grams. Does the tracking force follow the stylus used or the cartridge? Or is this just a bad combination?
 
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Bob King said:
I have what I believe is a Magnavox-branded AT12Sa (500 ohms, genuine ivory AT12S stylus), shibata tip condition unknown. The cartridge tracks well, and sounds good at 1.25 and 1.5 grams.
I ordered and installed a LPGear AT11E green stylus (can’t afford the Vividline or Shibata right now). It does not sound very good, channel balance is off, and seems to have trouble tracking at 1.5, 1.75, or even 2 grams. I set the antiskate using a test record and cartridge is aligned with a Baerwald gauge.
The tracking force spec on the AT12Sa cartridge is 1-1.75 grams (with note to not exceed 1.75); and the AT11E is 1.5 to 2.5 grams. Does the tracking force follow the stylus used or the cartridge? Or is this just a bad combination?
Click to expand...
Tracking force should be whatever the stylus is rated for. Did your LP Gear stylus come with information about what tracking force range to use? It's not uncommon for 3rd-party styli to not exactly match the original equipment's specifications. If it is 1.5-2.5 grams, try the upper limit of 2.5 to see if that cures the poor tracking. After some break-in time, you may find you can reduce the tracking force a bit and still get good tracking. If it won't track decently at its max setting, I wouldn't continue to use it; mistracking can be very hard on a vinyl record.

My limited experience with 3rd-party styli (and nos original styli) has not been good. When I can no longer buy a newly manufactured oem stylus for a cartridge, that cartridge goes in the waste bin. AT's newer VM95 series is pretty good, and the VM95C is pretty inexpensive. They have ML and Shibata styli available as upgrades if you wanted to try those at some point.
 
jrtrent said:
Tracking force should be whatever the stylus is rated for. Did your LP Gear stylus come with information about what tracking force range to use? It's not uncommon for 3rd-party styli to not exactly match the original equipment's specifications. If it is 1.5-2.5 grams, try the upper limit of 2.5 to see if that cures the poor tracking. After some break-in time, you may find you can reduce the tracking force a bit and still get good tracking. If it won't track decently at its max setting, I wouldn't continue to use it; mistracking can be very hard on a vinyl record.

My limited experience with 3rd-party styli (and nos original styli) has not been good. When I can no longer buy a newly manufactured oem stylus for a cartridge, that cartridge goes in the waste bin. AT's newer VM95 series is pretty good, and the VM95C is pretty inexpensive. They have ML and Shibata styli available as upgrades if you wanted to try those at some point.
Click to expand...
There is no documentation provided; I did contact LPGear and they said to use the 1.5-2.5 gram TF for the AT11E. Seems high for an elliptical stylus ….my Ortofon Super OM5E and Shure V15 (with a Jico elliptical stylus) track fine at 1.25-1.5.
 
Bob King said:
There is no documentation provided; I did contact LPGear and they said to use the 1.5-2.5 gram TF for the AT11E. Seems high for an elliptical stylus ….my Ortofon Super OM5E and Shure V15 (with a Jico elliptical stylus) track fine at 1.25-1.5.
Click to expand...
While LP Gear's AT11E replacement uses a .3 X .7 mil elliptical stylus, the original AT11E used a slightly larger .4 X .7; the larger footprint would reduce the pressure on the groove wall compared to a smaller tip. It was not an uncommon choice by manufacturers. Shure, for instance used a .2 X .7 elliptical for the M91E tracking at a recommended 1 gram, but the M91EJ sported a .4 X .7 for its recommended 2 gram vtf. At present, my personal comfort level for stylus shape and tracking force might be similar to yours; my feeling is that if it needs to track above 1.5 grams, I'd rather use a conical. I have, in fact, used conicals exclusively since 2018 when Shure discontinued production of styli for the M97xE, a .2 X .7 model that I happily tracked at 1.35 grams.
 
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